


Children of Night & Fury

by FlashbulbReflektor



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:22:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 14,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashbulbReflektor/pseuds/FlashbulbReflektor
Summary: What went down between Megeara and Zagreus?  Why do the Fury sisters seem to hate each other?  Why does Tisiphone only know one word?  Why is Thanatos sooooo emo?  Why do the Fury sisters have only one wing....? In this prequel, the Chthonic Gods date, fight, f*** and figure it out.  Updated weekly.
Relationships: Dionysus/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Eurydice/Tisiphone (Hades Video Game), Megaera/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	1. Serpent's Edge

“Wait for me!” 

Zagreus dashed ahead of Megaera, swinging the Stygian Blade to strike the giant basilisk before them. Zagreus leapt onto the creature’s back, slid on its glistening scales, and started running up its spine, ready to skewer it right under its skull, like Achilles taught him. The basilisk bucked, landing Zagreus flat on his back. The Stygian Blade clattered clear out of reach. 

“Ametuer,” Megaera muttered. Her feet strode sure and true. She made no attempt to mount the writhing serpent. She took three quick steps, slid on her sandals, struck the snake’s neck with her whip and yanked. The infernal instrument sliced its head clean off like a slice of roast. Zagreus rolled to avoid its newly inanimate fangs. 

“What the hell are you doing?” hissed Alecto, who trailed thirty paces behind the entire training. “You were supposed to give everybody a turn, not show off for your damn boyfriend.”

“Maybe you should try harder to catch up,” Megaera mused. She cracked her whip clean. Red-black serpent blood splattered from its thong. 

“Do not judge Megaera so harshly for her proclivity to impress upon her desired paramour,” The words came from Tisiphone, who had made no effort to compete in the exercise. She strode straight up to the snake’s decapitated head, stuck her hand into its oozing stump and wiped fresh blood on her green- gray robes. 

Zargeus rose to his feet with a groan. 

“Yes, that’s right,” Zagreus defended. “I’m not her boyfriend. More of a desired paramour. What Tisiphone said.” 

“Enough,” boomed a voice, lower and more mature than any of the gibbering adolescents who previously occupied the airspace. The once- vicious basilisk dissipated into a glittering black cloud, severed head and all. “Proceed to the Hall for your performance review.” 

“Sorry to embarrass you again, Zagreus,” Megeara sneered. She kicked The Stygian Blade to his feet. "See you at the performance review." 

“See you at the performance review,” Alecto rudely mimicked, then snapped off into a bright red version of the basilisk’s apparition.

“Arrivederci,” Tisiphone bid, then did the same in a cloud of green butterflies. 

“Is that true? About you trying to impress me, I mean.” Zagreus asked Megeara. The two of them stood alone in the hall now, the air stale without whipping snake and whip- smart sisters. Only their breath stirred their surroundings. Zagreus closed the space between them. 

“Absolutely not,” Megaera said defensively. “We train to be the best. And I am the best. Tisiphone is right, you should really catch up.”

“Tisiphone didn’t say that,” Zagreus corrected, moving Megaera’s wrist behind her back. “You did.”

Megaera tensed her wrist under Zagreus' firm but flexible grip. The thought of breaking free fluttered across her mind like an easily ignored bird. She flexed only enough to keep Zagreus’ hand active around her titan bones. The air between them fluttered, as a stronger bird carrying thoughts of desire beat its wings in Megaera’s mind. 

“Zagreus! Megaara!” The voice boomed again, rattling pillars and spilling dust. “Hall of Hades! Now!”

Megaera whipped her wrist from Zagreous’ grip and hissed in his ear. 

“Catch up.”


	2. Crystal Bridges

“Megaera is being such a bitch.”

Alecto flung her barbed whip at a crystal urn in the Hall of Hades. The popper shattered the urn into a thousand pieces. The performance review had not gone well. Hades chastised Alecto and Tisiphone for approaching the basilisk too late, and praised Megaera for her arrogance. At least Tisiphone had blood on her robes. Alecto had nothing. 

The urn flubbed back. No change in the Underworld lasted very long. The impermanence, and the crushing permanence of impermanence, made the Fury Sisters’ job relentless. They were always having to flay heinous mortals. So said heinous mortals got the obligatory eternity of punishment, and all. 

Tisiphone toyed with a lock of her moon- white hair. 

“I’m not partial to the encounters where they ask us to lacerate snakes. I’m quite fond of snakes.”

“At least it’s a challenge,” Alecto snapped her whip at the reconstituted glass urn, hoping to break it into even more pieces than last time. “If I have to smote one more sniveling mortal…”

“You miss Megaera,” Tisiphone observed. “You used to relish punishing souls in Tartarus. You long for the bond of sisterhood that connected us in our servitude.”

“Who made you Athena all of a sudden?” Alecto spat, invoking the Goddess of Wisdom to shame Tisiphone. Tisiphone did far too much thinking for an agent of darkness, and she had the vocabulary to prove it. Sometimes Alecto just wanted her to shut up.

Tisiphone sensed Alecto’s hostility.

“Well, we’d better go smite some snivelling mortals. Come, I’ll assist you. Maybe you can expel some aggression on something other than urns.”

Far in the distance, a crystal urn shattered. But it was not Alecto’s. 

Alecto froze like a stalking predator. “Did you hear that?” 

Tisiphone rolled her eyes. Before she could stop Alecto, her sister was floating above the slippery hallway, stalking that which made the sound. Tisiphone walked behind, making conspicuous footsteps to thwart Alecto’s stealth. 

“It’s Meg and Zagreous,” Alecto whispered, daggers flashing in her eyes. 

It was. The children of fury and darkness headed for Zagreous’ massive bedchambers. 

“It’s SO UNFAIR that Zagreous gets the biggest room,” Alecto complained. 

“That’s because he’s Hades’ son,” Tisiphone pointed out. 

“So is Than, but he sleeps in a broom closet.” 

“Thanatos enjoys his modest quarters. And he does not sleep in a broom closet, he keeps a small loft near the Hall of Records. It’s quite lovely.”

Alecto spun around. She directed her fury at Tisiphone, momentarily forgetting about Megaera. 

“How do you know so much about Thanatos’ room, Tis?”

Tisiphone remained serene. “We often convene there to discuss mortal politics.”

Alecto snorted. BORING. Only to lame idiots could enjoy discussing the quibblings of ugly bags of mostly water.

Alecto heard Zagreous’ heavy door shut. Invisible steam hissed from her skin. 

She crept to Zagreous’ door and leaned in, hoping to catch some incriminating evidence. But the door stood too thick to penetrate. 

“It’s useless,” Alecto announced to an empty hallway.

“Tisiphone? TISIPHONE!” 

That, Megaera and Zagreous heard.


	3. Get Your Fingers Out Of My Pom Porridge, Or On Second Thought, Don’t.

Tisiphone glided through Tartarus, absently smiting a sniveling mortal or two on her way. She paused to admire the Gates of Tartarus, where she and her sisters enjoyed whipping the more persistent hell- dwellers. The searing heat of Asphodel suffocated most denizens, but Tisiphone felt neither heat nor cold. She and her sisters were born from titan blood. Penis blood, specifically. Severed penis blood. Perhaps that’s why Megeara lusted after Zagreus. 

Tisiphone had her own lusts. She was not so exclusive, though. 

Tisiphone approached her destination. Smells of spiced meat and stewed pomegranates wafted through the air. The sweet odors mingled with an equally sweet song. Eurydice lived here. She transformed this sweltering corner of Asphodel into a warm and luscious home. Eurydice was tricked into an eternity in the Underworld because her boyfriend loved her too much. Eurydice loathed to talk about it. But she found ways to enjoy earthly comforts. Tisiphone thought Eurydice rather enjoyed being dead, because she often teased the more alive guests about their sensitivity to heat. 

Tisiphone entered the bohemian chamber. 

“It smells ravishing in here,” 

Eurydice beamed. She led an eclectic mortal life, and several of her adornments made it to the Underworld. Her hips clinked with trinkets, small vessels, acorns, beads and other treasures. Euryice inked beautiful watercolor tattoos into her flawless walnut- brown skin. Her dark beauty made Tisiphone feel even more ghostly and translucent, and her vivaciousness made Tisiphone feel even more immortal. Tisiphone enjoyed the opposition. She came often to bask in Eurydice, that nightingale nymph who transformed hell into paradise. 

“Hey there, Tis!” Eurydice greeted. “You want some ambrosia? One of Achilles’ men brought it by.”

Eurydice passed Tisiphone a goblet of the gods’ nectar. Its delicate, complex flavor invoked the mortal fruit called “peaches”. Tisiphone let the flavors unfold on her tongue. 

“I have brought you a token of appreciation as well,” she announced. 

Tisiphone procured a crystal urn, like the ones Alecto bashed in the Great Hall. “I thought it might make a good vessel for your tinctures.” 

“Tis, did you steal this?” Eurydice teased. 

Tisiphone smiled, hiding her lightly sharpened teeth. “They won’t notice it’s gone.”

Eurydice grabbed Tisiphone around the waist and kissed her. Eurydice’s mouth tasted like her spiced concoction. Tisiphone’s mouth tasted like the vastness of eternity. 

Tisiphone always surprised Eurydice. The pale, well- spoken Fury led a life of carnage and retribution, but Tisiphone wasn’t at all like her sisters. She seemed bored of eternal vengeance, more interested in the fleeting pleasures of life on Earth. 

“I’m sorry to intrude with such short notice,” Tisiphone apologized insincerely. Eurydice grinned as she stirred her pom porridge. “You know I’m always happy for company. Although we’d better hope no one else barges in.” 

Tisiphone reached two long, slenderwhite fingers into Eurydice’s pot. The soup bubbled, but Tisiphone felt no pain of heat. She fished out four plump pomegranate seeds. The slick seeds settled in the crease between her fingers. She raised the seeds to Eurydice’s open mouth, then put her fingers inside. 

Eurydice’s tongue tucked away each seed. She found time to chew them, their engorged membranes exploding with juice as soon as they touched her teeth. The seeds filled her mouth with red passion. She let Tisiphone’s fingers rest at her lips as she swallowed, then opened her mouth again. This time, she took Tisiphone’s fingers across the smooth, hungry expanse of her tongue. 

Tisiphone exhaled. Her breath felt like frost against Eurydice’s flushed face. Tisiphone’s stone- black eyes disappeared behind pearlescent eyelids. Eurydice wrapped her full lips around Tisiphone’s long fingers. Her mouth filled with sweet moisture as she sucked, filling Tisiphone with warmth. Eurydice even let her soft teeth drag gently gently across Tisiphone’s fingertips. Tisiphone could never do that without drawing blood. 

Tisiphone removed her fingers from the hungry embrace of Eurydice’s mouth and replaced them with her own tongue.

“Mmmm,” Eurydice giggled, like a chef who had just discovered an exciting ingredient. She dropped her spoon in the pom porridge. She used the newly freed hand to squeeze Tisiphone’s butt, as if checking a fruit for ripeness. Tisiphone moved her lips to Eurydice’s neck, softly tracing the feathered edges of her body art with the edges of her lips. Eurydice shook. 

“Hey, Tisiphone?” Eurydice said. Tisiphone worked her way across Eurydice’s back, where an abstract flower garden bloomed. 

“Yes?” 

“You would never, like, make a deal with the Lord of the Underworld for my life, then, at the last minute, doom me forever by breaking the deal?”

Tisiphone pressed her cheek into the small dome between Eurydice’s shoulder blades. She wrapped her arms around Eurydice’s waist, careful of the bandolier of trinkets. 

“No.” 

“Do you know how I died?” 

Eurydice turned in Tisiphone’s embrace. She draped her elegant forearms across Tisiphone’s battle- knotted shoulders. Eurydice’s honey- gold eyes locked with Tisiphone’s metal- black ones. 

“Snake bite,” Eurydice confessed. 

Tisiphone ran her own tongue across her concealed demifangs.

“I shall find the snake who slayed you and we shall make soup of his flesh in the fires of Asphodel.” Tisiphone declared. 

Eurydice laughed. “No hard feelings toward the snake. The stupid thing is, I actually liked it in Hades, before you- know- who got my hopes up and ruined everything. I guess what I’m saying is…. I don’t want you trying to help me out. I can take care of myself.”

Tisiphone brushed the soft edges of Eurydice’s hair. Her golden eyes shimmered. Eurydice wanted to fill Tisiphone with pomegranate seeds, see color burst beneath her translucent skin. She wanted to slake Tisiphone’s longing for life with her now- dead body, and feel some connection to that life again. 

“So…. you harbor no ill feelings towards the snake that sent you to your death, nor snakes in general?”

Eurydice shook her head. Her elaborate hairdo shook with it. “Nope.”

Tisiphone smiled, showing her pointy teeth for the first time. She was ready to ravage Eurydice now, leave the pom porridge simmering for eternity. She wanted Eurydice in only her watercolor tattoos, spread on the velvet daybed, while Tisiphone slayed all her demons. Tisiphone slid her hand under Eurydice’s top. 

“Good.”


	4. Soul Map

“Alecto probably thinks we’re fucking,” Megeara announced grimly. She’d heard her sister shriek outside Zagreous’ bedroom door. Sounded like Tisiphone didn’t want to entertain Alecto’s negativity either. 

Megaera and Zagreous were not, in fact, fucking in his becroom. Megeara and Zagreous had never, in fact, fucked, although Zagreous suspected they would both enjoy the activity. 

Zagreous was Prince of the Underworld and his father Hades spoilt him accordingly. His room was dark and cavernous, with the biggest bed Megaera had ever seen. He had a collection of books and earthly treasures strewn about the chambers, as if he expected Dusa, the House of Hades’ helpful gorgon, to clean up after him. Typical, Megaera thought. 

Still, it was impossible to think of Zagreus as ungrateful. Despite his royal birth, he treated everyone in the House of Hades with kindness and respect. Even Hypnos, whose penchant for stating the obvious made Megeara want to punch him in his face. Even Dusa, who was technically not allowed to talk to him. Even Megaera, who did her best to resist his charms. 

Megeara was really sitting on his bed to avoid her sisters. Letting them think she and Zagreous had some illicit affair beat whipping and torturing souls in Tartarus. She flopped on her back and gazed up at the Soul Map Zagreous had above his bed. The Soul Map offered a muted kaleidoscope of shifting shapes and meant to stimulate the natural light abundant on the surface. Nyx, his mother, told him it was full of souls. Megeara doubted that. 

“So.. the Dance of Darkness is this weekend,” Zagreus said. 

“Pfft,” Megeara responded. She pretended apathy, but she actually loved the Dance of Darkness. Once a year, the Chthonic gods allowed themselves to emulate the Gods of Olympus. Sometimes the Olympic gods even dropped in on them, though this was rare. She recalled Dionysus coming round last year. He always brought the best wine. 

“Would you like to go with me?” Zagreous asked. 

Megaera snorted again. Her default reaction did little to fill in the blanks. Of course I’d like to go with you, she thought wistfully to herself. But what would my sisters think? 

Megeara stared somberly at the Soul Map. She clasped her hands across her abdomen. Zagreus, sensing angst, quietly moved to gaze beside her. He lay his head a respectable distance from hers, and let the sea of souls soothe his mind. 

“Who do you think they were?” Megeara asked softly. 

Zagreus thought. He swallowed his first response, a quip about how they were probably souls Megeara had thrashed a time or two. He also silenced his second, about how whoever they were, they would probably want to go to the Dance of Darkness. Zagreous sighed. Perspiration from the day’s exercise scented the air, bringing indelible closeness with each inhale and faded memory with each exhale. 

“Do you think they’re anything like us?” Megeara asked. Zagreus watched them slowly bumping about, trapped but not anxious to escape. Zagreus identified with feeling trapped. There were some things, though, keeping him in Hades. 

He opened his mouth to see what would fall out, but when he turned to address Megeara, he found her lost in thought. Her eyes were open, but miles away. She was lost in dreams. He turned to the Soul Map, imagining his and Megaera’s souls sliding and winding together up there. He let the back of his hand brush hers. They lay together, lost in alternate realities.


	5. Ambrosia Delight

Eurydice knew Tisiphone loved eating, but she never knew she loved it this much. Tisiphone had spent hours down there. Eurydice’s clothes and belt of trinkets lay splayed about her alcove, and Eurydice lay splayed on her velvet daybed. She’d climaxed several times already, but she got the feeling that wasn’t Tisiphone’s goal. She marvelled at how Tisiphone found ways of touching her that ignited new combinations of synapses in Eurydice’s dead- but- alive body. 

Tisiphone moved her thin lips across the soft folds of Eurydice’s center. She felt a shiver run through Eurydice, likely because of her cooler- than average skin. Her strong fingers moved the fleshy part of Eurydice’s butt cheeks aside. Tisiphone clutched her backside and poured Eurydice into her mouth. Eurydice tasted like all the delicious things she’d fed Tisiphone: sweet and sour, like the pom porridge. Soft and creamy, like ambrosia delight. Tender and refreshing, like nectar. Tisiphone explored all these flavors with her tongue, sucking deeply while her hands explored the soft wonderland of Eurydice’s body. She kept her eyes open and observant as flamelight danced across Eurydice’s beautiful torso, flickered in her sleepy gold eyes, and kissed her succulent breasts. Tisiphone’s hands caressed, pulled, brushed, and occasionally clawed; she did not want to pollute the pure nectar of Eurydice’s body with the taste of her own hands. 

“All right, you’re done,” Eurydice announced, brushing aside Tisiphone’s hands and mouth. She pushed Tisiphone to her spot on the daybed and pounced. Tisiphone still wore her thigh- high leg shields. Eurydice left those on, but yanked the rest of Tisiphone’s outfit, which she’d heretofore merely pushed aside, completely off. 

Eurydice grasped Tisiphone’s breasts. Tisiphone’s nipples always ran a little hard because of the titan penis blood. But this time, Tisphone felt keen awareness in her tiny tips, as if all the blood rushed there and away from every other part of her electric flesh. Eurydice positioned Tisiphone’s erect nipples between her middle and index fingers and squeezed. Tisiphone’s nipples grew longer, hardening under Eurydice’s clutch. Eurydice pulled Tisiphone’s nipples outward, bringing her to the precipice of a delicious discomfort that reminded Tisiphone of her dark appetite for violence. Tisiphone’s nipples grew wet. Air left her throat in a hiss. Eurydice moved her hot mouth to the moisture at the apex of Tisiphone’s breasts. She gave a quick lick that sent electricity to all Tisiphone’s other appendages. Eurydice moved her fists to grip only Tisiphone’s nipples and no other part of her excited breasts. She pushed and pulled simultaneously.

“Aaaaah!” 

Tisiphone shrieked, a shriek that awoke all of Asphodel. Tisiphone felt the power of heat now. Eurydice relinquished her grip on Tisiphone’s nipples, took advantage of Tisiphone’s weakness and pushed her onto her side, exposing her bony ass. Eurydice struck it, leaving her hand to jiggle. Tisiphone screamed again at the gorgeous pain. Eurydice smacked her ass again, this time digging her nails into Tisiphone’s moon- pale flesh and ripping them away with a sharp scratch. Tisiphone felt a void ache in her abdomen, and found herself wishing Eurydice would fill it with her hands. 

“Eurydice,” Tisiphone moaned, “Fuck me.”

“What’s that, Fury?” Eurydice demanded, grabbing Tisiphone’s wrists and slamming her against the daybed. In any other situation, Tisiphone would rip her trespasser to shreds on sight and bathe in their blood, but this felt different. She felt delightfully submissive in Eurydice’s admittedly weak grasp. Tisiphone left her whip back at the House, but made a mental note to bring it next time. 

“Please fuck me, Eurydice,” Tisiphone cried, rocking her arms in Eurydice’s grap. Eurydice pinned them above Tisiphone’s head and moved her face in close. 

“Oh,” Eurydice mocked, “So eloquent.” 

Eurydice’s hands smacked Tisiphone’s breasts on their way to her snatch. Eurydice spread Tisiphone’s lips and exhaled, her warm breath somehow permeating the swollen folds and making its way inside Tisiphone. 

“You want me to fuck you?” Eurydice teased. Her hands stayed still, one finger on either side of Tisiphone’s vulva, barely keeping her closed. 

“Yes,” Tisiphone begged. “Yes!” 

Eurydice flipped her hand over and slowly drew her fingernail from the top of Tisiphone’s taint to the bottom, stopping right at the base of her holy opening. “You want me to fuck you?” 

“Yes,” Tisiphone breathed, losing all strength. 

Eurydice’s hands left Tisiphone entirely and swiftly twisted one of Tisiphone’s nipples.

“You want me to fuck you?!” Eurydice shouted. 

“Aaaraagh!” 

Tisiphone let out a groan so deep and powerful it shook the foundations of Eurydice’s house and caused the rivers of lava to form furious waves. A crater fell from the ceiling and landed with a tremendous CRACK inches from Eurydice’s daybed. A tide of magma hissed onto Eurydice’s island and stopped just short of her door. Tiny, angry rocks fell into Eurydice’s hair. Eurydice frowned. 

An angry voice boomed and echoed from the crevices of Asphodel. Falling rocks littered Eurydice’s home. 

“Tisiphone, you stupid slacker! Get your skinny ass back to the House RRRRRIGHT NOWW!” 

The cutting vitriol could only belong to Alecto. 

Tisiphone groaned, a very different sentiment this time.

“It appears my sisters have some cause to summon me away from this ecstatic moment,” Tisiphone breathed, finding her way back to words. 

“Geez,” Eurydice sighed. She sat like a cat on the edge of the daybed and pushed her voluptuous breasts together with her arms. “Guess I should have just fucked you.”


	6. Take Me To Your Broom Closet

“We’re going to the surface to punish some mortals,” Alecto announced. She, Megaera, and Tisiphone sat in the lounge at the House of Hades. Tisiphone seemed uncharacteristically huffy. 

“Why?” 

“I dunno. Hades’ orders. You don’t like it, take it up with him.”

“Will we be back in time for the Dance of Darkness?” Megaera asked. She tried to look as indifferent as possible, but hope betrayed her. 

“I don’t know,” Alecto said through gritted teeth. “That depends on how fast we get the job done.”

“Fine,” said Tisiphone, cracking her whip. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we return.”

Alecto rolled her eyes. “What is WITH you two? Why are you in such a hurry to hang out in the Underworld all the time? You used to LOVE our trips to the surface. Don’t you remember? We’d flay and whip every useless, petulant mortal we could find! Show ‘em what they get for all their lust and greed!” 

Tisiphone reddened at the word “lust”. Megeara stared at the floor. 

Alecto felt hurt. She felt separated from her sisters and her support system. They’d abandoned her, stuck their heads up their own asses… or other asses?!?

“Alecto,” Tisiphone articulated, “You will always be our sister. I, for one, am enthralled by this prospect of working together. I sense that it means a great deal to you.”

Tisiphone elbowed Megeara, prompting some sympathy. Meg shot Tisiphone a wounded look. She turned to Alecto. Alecto, though fuming, seemed assuaged by Tisiphone. Megeara sighed. 

“I think you need to get laid.”

“UUUGH!!!” Alecto stormed out of the lounge, smashing everything she could on her way out. She almost smashed Thanatos, the brooding, emo brother of Zagreus, and “god of death” or whatever they called him. 

“Something the matter, Alecto?” Thanatos asked in his perpetually bright, bored voice. 

Alecto narrowed her eyes at him. She looked him up and down. His hair was light like Tisiphone’s, but a warmer shade of neutral. He wore billowing black robes that exposed half a muscular chest. He wore bronze adornments that reflected some style. He always exuded calm and indifference, much like that which comes for us all (death). Alecto could use some calming influence. And he was tall. Alecto imagined him pushing her up against a wall and feeling his marble- hard cock through his silken robes. Maybe Megeara was right. 

“Yea. You. Emo boy.” Alecto huffed. 

“Death Incarnate,” Thanatos calmly corrected. 

“Death incarnate. Whatever.” 

Alecto straightened her skirts and tried to do something sexy with her whip. 

“Take me to your broom closet.”


	7. KITHAERON

They’d been on the surface three days and Alecto already longed to get back. The sun blared mercilessly up here. The wind blew all over the place. And her stupid sisters just weren’t pouring their hearts into their work anymore. 

Hades had sent the furies to punish evildoers in a village called Loutoufi. They’d made quick work of it the first couple nights, whipping drunken swindlers, setting fire to the homes of greedy landlords, setting wicken women’s hair on fire, and ripping adulterers from their beds and sucking them up into clouds of scathing ash, which stripped their skin raw and made physical touch extremely painful. They’d almost weeded all the children and pacifists out, at which point they were free to take their carnage to the next level: torturing, dismembering, creative name- calling, and so on. But SOMEONE (cough, Tisiphone, cough cough) had her eye on some STUPID mortal named Kithaeron. 

They technically weren’t supposed to punish Kithaeron. He was the purest and most innocent of mortals. He concerned himself with finding happiness, true love, living simply within his means, and the thirty or so hideous furry creatures he spent all day with. Tisiphone informed him these dim- witted beasts were called “sheep.”

“Kithaeron pours great love and commitment into his flock,” Tisiphone elaborated, after she had explained about the sheep. Tisiphone’s disgusting fixation on mortal things made Alecto want to vomit acid all over Kithaeron’s putrid sheep. 

That afternoon, Alecto and Megeara absently shot flames at the sheep just to freak them out a little bit. Tisiphone descended from the heavens and threw up an energy barrier to protect the pathetic bleating creatures, like she was some sort of Goddess of Sheep or something. Kithaeron, who’d previously been running around with buckets of water to douse the fires, fell at her feet and thanked her for saving his sheep. He didn’t seem to notice that she looked almost exactly like the two Furies terrorizing his livestock in the first place. Tisiphone kept both her feet on the ground, kept her wings folded, and laughed at every bad joke the dumb farmer made. In Alecto’s mind, the conversation went like this: 

“Durr, thanx 4 saving my sheepz.”

“Omg, u got it mortal. Ur so sexy! I luv how u can die @ ne moment.”

“Hahaha woww, hott.”

“Want 2 get 2 gether & lick my pu$$y sometime?”

“Yea sure hottie, we can get 2gether next 2 dis pile of manure.”

“Gr8. See u tn!” 

“Do not tell me you are hooking up with that mortal,” Alecto said to Tisiphone as she whisked them away from the field, ruining all their fun. 

“All right, I acquiesce to your wish. I will not tell you I have plans to consort with that mortal after nightfall.”

“Tisiphone!” Alecto whined. “This is the BIG NIGHT. The night we REALLY get to do our thing. You’re blowing us off for some shit shoveller?”

“Tisiphone has a thing for mortals,” Megeara said slyly. “I saw you blow Eurydice a kiss when we flew over Asphodel.” Megeara tutted. “What are you planning to tell her when you get back?” 

“The arrangement the lady Eurydice and I have provides space for auxiliary sexual relationships,” Tisiphone explained. “It’s highly liberating, I suggest you try it.” 

Alecto scoffed. When did her sisters become such Aphrodites? Her experience with Thanatos had not gone well. She kept trying to find his penis under his dress. He kept wanting to talk about her anger problems. 

“FINE!” bellowed Alecto, red glitz spraying off her shoulders. “I hope he doesn’t freak out when he finds out you’ve got nothing but a void down there!” 

The words hurt Tisiphone. She tried not to show her pain.


	8. Snake Bike

Midnight fell. Megeara and Alecto had burnt almost all of Loutoufi to a crisp. The ignorant peons who ran this place lay dead at the bottom of a pit, which Alecto and Megeara had blasted together. It felt good, working with Meg again. Once she realized she was going to make it back to Hades in time to catch the Dance of Darkness, Megeara started kicking ass again. She handled her whip with the panache she’d shown that day she sliced the basilisk, and she seemed to genuinely enjoy her talent for starting fires and blasting giant, smoking holes in things. The last of the humans’ screams died out in red and purple flames. 

“Nice job, sis,” Alecto said. 

Tisiphone fluttered in from the East. She looked cresfallen. A new, slithering accessory hung behind her left earlobe. It hissed at Alecto. 

“What the hell is that?” Alecto asked, jabbing her finger at the tiny white snake creeping behind Tisiphone’s ear. 

Tisiphone heaved a heavy sigh. She almost sank into the smouldering flames, she dropped so low. 

“I take it things didn’t go well with your sheep man,” Megeara said. 

“Kithaeron is dead,” Tisiphone reported. 

“Burnt to a crisp?” Alecto asked hopefully. 

“Snake bite,” Tisiphone said. She brushed the hissing snake behind her ear, where it unhappily blended into her shock- white hair. 

“What, are you gonna fuck him in the underworld too?” Alecto asked.

“No,” Tisiphone replied. “Kithaeron does not wish to speak to me.”  
Alecto jabbed her finger at an unburnt patch of grass and let a shoot of red flame rip. Megeara actually felt kind of sorry for Tisiphone. 

“He blamed me for the destruction of Loutoufi. Begged me to make it stop. When I said I could not, he attacked me with the ridiculous stick he uses to herd the sheeps.” 

Tisiphone felt a Titan tear creep to the corner of her eye. She blinked rapidly. Alecto would never let her live down a mid- rampage cry. 

“So you turned your hair into a snake a bit him?” Alecto asked. 

Tisiphone quickly wiped her eye. She gave a small nod. 

“I have no pride for my impulsiveness.”

“This is what we do,” Megeara said softly. “We punish mortals.” 

Megeara twisted her wrist and let hot- purple electricity fly. It took the rough shape of a butterfly, Tisiphone’s signature apparition. 

Tisiphone peered at the smoke below. Meg’s was purple; Alecto’s was red. She let her palm open and sent an electric green burst of energy juggernauting into the Earth. It made a tremendous crack and shook, save the hovering Fury sisters. Red, purple and green ashes devoured the last of Loutoufi. The sisters admired their destruction. Alecto grinned ear to ear.

“Let’s away,” Tisiphone said. “Our work here is done. If we hurry, we can still catch the Dance of Darkness.”


	9. THE DANCE OF DARKNESS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dance of Darkness has many people and things. Will Megaera be one of them?

Zagreous dressed to the nines for the Dance of Darkness. He wore his finest robe, a soft crepe made from baphonet hide. He fastened his robes with a bejeweled crescent, another gift from Nyx. He even wore the crown of platinum laurels Hades had tossed his way at Zagreus’ last birthday. 

The Dance of Darkness had everything: Bone curtains, exotic aquariums, giant dog beds, undead strippers, and a shade by the name of Tiffanoos that ran around lifting everybody’s robes. Hypnos was having the time of his life. He draped himself goofilty over banisters and hiccupped “Welcome to Hades!” when he spied a new guest. Thanatos spent most of the evening lurking near Nyx as she gracefully performed hostess duties. Achilles entertained guests with Trojan War stories. Orpheus, the useless court musician, mustered no music but seemed to enjoy the canapes. Other shades played lute and lyre, and Hypnos’ hips swayed with the music. He bumped those swaying hips into other guests whenever he could. That man had music in his soul. 

Hades, Zagreus’ contemptuous father, pretended to hate the Dance of Darkness. But Zagreus saw excitement behind Hades’ red eyes. The Dance of Darkness gave Lord Hades the opportunity to show everyone life wasn’t so bad in the Underworld. Sure, it was a soul- sucking bureaucracy seeped in fire and brimstone, but the Chthonic gods knew how to cut loose and have a good time. 

Zagreus politely chatted with the Underworld guests: Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons; Eros, who kept making eyes at Hypos; Helen, who looked much less beautiful in hellfire than she did in sunshine; Asterius, the wise bull who followed that twat Theseus around like a puppy dog; and Eris, Goddess of Discord, who kept asking after Chaos. Despite all the radiant celebrities, Zagrues really longed for Megeara’s company. Zagreus politely chatted with the evening’s guests. He found Charon, the Stygian boatman. People generally avoided Charon. He towered over other guests, obscured his face with oily rags and a mangy rags, constantly emanated a stream of foul- smelling smoke, and spoke in long- winded grunts gurgles. 

“Uuuuuurrrrruuuughhhh,” Charon greeted Zagreus. 

As Charon launched into a long- winded groan, presumably about the shortcomings of the party, Zagreous let himself slip into fantasy.


	10. ZAGSTASY

She wore a skintight velvet dress that hugged her strong body. A scandalous slit exposed one ass- kicking leg. A low- cut back gave her fearsome wings room to breathe. Her gray- blue skin sparkled in the firelight, as if tiny diamonds dusted its surface. Her slick black wings reflected rainbows like sheets of mysterium. Her long heavy hair, usually swept up in a painfully high ponytail, swished down her back. She accessorized with her usual assortment of punk jewelry. Zagreus knew she had her whip somewhere. 

“Hello, Zagreus,” she’d say in her low, croaky voice. 

Zagreus would extend his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. “Good evening, Megeara,” he’d say. 

He and she would float through the Hall of Hades. She would laugh softly and slyly at the guests’ bad jokes. He’d find secret ways to touch her back. Her sisters were nowhere in sight. After a polite amount of time, she would grab him by his toga and drag him to his room. 

Megeara procured her whip, which she’d been hiding right above her butt. She used it to deftly slash the fastenings from Zagreus’ robe. Luxurious fabric fell to the floor, leaving Zagreus completely naked except for his crown. Megeara couldn’t have that. She strode confidently towards him, her leg flashing seductively behind its slit. She brought her face centimeters from his. She smelled sharp and intoxicating, like a flower ripe for bees. 

“That’s mine now,” she’d breathe, snatching the laurel from his head and placing in on her own. 

Before Zagreus could feel the air on his nethers, she’d lashed him to a chair. God legs bound to chair legs, hands bound expertly behind his back, cloth that smelled like Megeara forced between his teeth. He longed to place his hands on Megeara’s body, stretch the neckline of her dress to expose her breasts, rip the leg slit all the way up, but he could do none of that. Megeara laughed at him as he struggled against his bindings. She’d mercifully left his manhood free of restraints, something that (in this fantasy) she sometimes employed. He could not hide his arousal. His throbbing penis (which was bigger in this fantasy, but only a little) flexed and ached in the naked air. It slowly, agonizingly filled with blood. 

Whhhh-chhhh!

Megeara, still wearing her sexy dress and his circlet, struck the inside of his thigh with her whip. Zagreus sucked a stream of air through his teeth. Blood rushed to the sting. His thigh tingled. 

Megeara was fidgeting with something on his desk. Zagreus struggled to see around her, but knew it was useless. The thick, glossy rope Megeara used to bind him gave only enough slack to tease escape. 

Megeara turned around. She held a candle from the candelabra. Its flame swayed rhythmically. The only forces stirring the air were Zagrues’ stifled breath and Megeara’s cruel laughter. 

“Let’s see how you like this, Prince of Darkness.” 

Her wings beat once and she was upon him, legs straddling his whipped thigh. He felt her hot skin press into his whip wound, felt her butt flex on top of his knee. She slowly titled the candle parallel to his chest. Before he could object to getting wax stuck in his chest hair, she’d let the candle’s melting ejaculate fall. It hit the top edge of his nipple. Zagreus writhed in a fleeting moment of pain, groaned into his gag. Without missing a beat, Megeara brandished her whip and cracked it right between his shoulder blades. She kept her perch atop his thigh. She said nothing as she tilted the candle again. He felt the heat of flame barely singeing his face. He tried to anticipate the hot wax. He breathed heavily, stifled by whatever article of clothing Megeara had shoved in his mouth. She tipped the candle all at once and the illicit wax coated his other nipple. Zagreus failed to stifle another groan; Megeara lost the candle and drew her whip. This time, its biting lash thrilled Zagreus’ bare ass, finding his flesh despite the chair he sat upon. Megeara swiftly swung her leg around and stood back. He wished, ached, needed her back there, needed her touching him somewhere, somehow, her touch, and not the touch of cruel wax or whip. Megeara knelt elegantly between his forcibly spread legs. He felt her breath touch the thin skin of his penis. She could probably see the blood pulsing through engorged veins. Zagreus felt a tiny drop of moisture leak from his tip and settle naughtily. Megeara noticed, too, and gave one of her signature smirks.

“How’s my gag treating you?” she mocked, pushing it further into Zag’s mouth with her thumb. Zagreus muffled a response. Megeara moved her strong, experienced hands to massage Zag’s ankles just above their binds, then reached around him to softly twist the skin at his wrists. When she reached, her perfect breasts pushed into Zagreus’ chest and assuaged the places where wax scalded him. He imagined her juicy pussy in his mouth instead of her clothing. His watering mouth soaked the fabric. 

She hadn’t yet touched Zageus’ penis, and he felt he would explode as soon as she did. Instead, she retrieved the candle and held it right above the wisps of darkness that framed Zag’s package. He looked at her with pleading eyes. Touch me, he willed. In his mind, Megeara heard him, and refused. She titled the candle again, spilling wax onto his inner thighs and causing him to tense with excitement and fleeting pain. 

“That’s enough of this,” Megara promised, replacing the candle in the candelabra. She returned to her knees. She positioned her strong, beautiful face right behind the upright rod of Zagreus’ flesh. He felt her sweet breath grace his skin. She looked up at him through hooded, yellow eyes and thick, clumping lashes. He looked back at her, wondering when she would cover him. She moved her hands to his thighs, then his hips, then closed them in towards each other, building tension and anticipation with every inch. Zagreus would fill any part of her with what threatened to explode out of him, her hands, her mouth, whatever…

PFFFFFFFF!!!!!

Zagreus snapped back to reality. 

“Guuuuuuurrrrr?” Charon inquired. He clearly had not noticed Zagreus’ eyes glazing over during their conversation. 

Three sizzling fireworks exploded above the guests’ heads: one red, one green, and one purple. The Fury sisters had returned.


	11. Well Done In Loutoufi

The Dance of Darkness guests clapped. The furies bowed and did some graceful acrobatics in the air above, then flew off. Megeara wore her usual royal blue work robes. They were dirty from days of reckoning; still, she was breathtaking. 

“Excuse me,” he said to Charon. Zagreus waded through the crowd to find Megaera. She and her sisters giggled as they strode down the hall. They stood close enough to link arms. It seemed their exploits on the surface had gone well. 

“Good evening, Megeara,” Zag opened, using the line from his fantasy. 

Megeara turned around. 

“Zagreus,” she addressed. 

Zagreus recognized his rudeness. “Alecto, Tisiphone, you’re looking pulchritudinous this evening,” he acknowledged. “Tisiphone, is that a snake in your hair?” 

Tisiphone’s hand flew to the hissing white serpent behind her ear. It flashed its fangs at Zagreus. She twisted the tiny snake around her fingers. “Indeed. His name is Kithy.” 

“Lovely. I was wondering if you ladies would be attending the Dance of Darkness?” 

“We did,” Alecto corrected. “Catch our little show?”

“I did. Well done,” Zagreus said.

The sisters exchanged looks. Megeara avoided Zagreus’ eyes as he tried to read her. 

“Who wants to hang out with a bunch of stuck- up gods playing dress- up all night?” Alecto said. “We just demolished a village. The Underworld is gonna be busy.”

She twisted the her whip's handle, eager to slash some newly dead things. 

“I think I need to stay with my sisters tonight,” Megeara said softly. 

Zagreus felt his fantasy slipping away. 

“I see. Well, well done in Loutoufi. Have an excellent night.” 

Zagreus turned away, quickly reassembling his emotions. He would still enjoy the Dance of Darkness, and it happened every year… which seemed like every week, to an immortal. It seemed like Megeara was getting along with her sisters again, which probably relieved Megeara. The Fury sisters had a very delicate relationship. Best to enjoy the highs, as the lows seemed excruciating. 

Megeara watched as Zagreus walked away. Her sisters steered her toward Tartarus. Alecto and Tisiphhone recounted the weeks’ successes. Tisiphone seemed to be getting over Kithaeron; Alecto had convinced her she did the right thing in forming a snake from her hair and having it bite him. Megeara wanted to laugh with them. She knew how much the Dance of Darkness meant to Zagreus, but didn’t her relationship with her sisters mean more? 

She stole a look at Zagreus as he walked away. He was bound for the Dance of Darkness; she was bound for Tartarus. 

His ass looked so good in that toga.


	12. God of Wine

Zagreus was so punch- drunk he almost ignored the rapping on his door. 

Dionysis, never one to miss a soiree, had swept in at the eleventh hour with some Olympic wine and gotten everyone sloshed. 

“They don’t make ‘em like this down in the underworld, do they?” Dino said as he swaggadociosly procured cask after cask of delectable purple liquid from midair. 

Before long everyone at the Dance of Darkness was looking sideways and swaying their hips as if they were passengers on one of Charon’s choppy boat rides. Even the nefarious ferryman seemed slightly off- balance. Godly bodies of darkness and night formed a writhing mass at the center of the dance floor. People lost their clothing left and right. Zagreus was pretty sure he saw Thanatos trying to French kiss his own mother. Nyx kept politely drifting away. Hypnos, already king of the hip sway, routinely jostled between saucy Eros and sultry Moros as togas hit the floor. Dusa bopped her feather duster back and forth to the beat. Dionysis propositioned everyone he could make eye contact with for sex, including Zagreus. 

“I say, Zagreus, what a party, I do say, WHAT a PARTY!” 

“Hello, Dionysis,” Zagreus slurred. 

“You Chthonic gods do know how to jerk in in the underworld,” Dionysis complimented, giving Zagreus such an aggressive hip- bump that Dionysis’ toga almost fell off. His burgeoning boner stopped the fabric from sliding clean across both legs. He leaned in close and growled in Zagreus’ ear. Their laurel crowns stuck together for an instant.

“What do you say to a little randy candy?” Dionysis purred. He positioned Zagrues’ butt between his hips and rocked him back and forth as a tune not unlike T-Pain’s “Buy U A Drank” sprung from the enchanted instruments. 

Dionysis was sexy. He moved like a gay rock star, all swagger and style. He loved a good party. He smelled fantastic, like all the top notes of a fine liqueur without the rank stank of alcohol. Zagreus detected aromas of lilacs and licorice on the rock- hard god’s glistening skin this evening. The growing rod behind Zagreus was tempting, but he couldn’t shake thoughts of Meg tying him to a chair and teasing him senseless. It wouldn’t be fair to fuck Dionysis while thinking of someone else. Luckily, Zagreus knew the God of Wine was not the jealous type, and appreciated forthcomingness. 

“Thanks, mate,” Zagreus said, spinning his hips to face Dionysis. He placed one hand on Dionysis’ waist and another in his own hand, leading Dino in a kind of waltz. “But I’d like the rest of the night to myself. Some other time?”

Dionysis took the lead now, spinning Zagreus around and dropping him in a low dip. “Whatever you say, Zagreus, you fine fine fox!!” Dionysis popped him upright and gave him a quick clap on the ass. 

“THAN- atos!” Dionysis called. 

At present, Zagreus was zoning out under his Soul Map, trying to divine breasts and butt cheeks from the amorphous blobs, when he heard three quick raps. They sounded like they came from a hard, blunt object. 

“Dionysis, are you knocking on my door with your dick?” Zagreus teased. He did not get up to answer the door, but it opened anyway. It was not Dionysis. It was Megeara.


	13. Marshmallow Dreams

“Excuse me?” she asked. Dying candlelight created a dark silhouette around her body. Zagreus no longer had to imagine breasts and butt cheeks in the ooze above him: he could see them on Megeara’s body. He spied her coiled whip in one hand and realized she must have used it to knock. 

“Meg!” Zagreus grinned like an idiot. His drunk was showing. “I thought you were Dionysis, he’s been trying to get into my asshole all night…” 

Zagreus flopped back to the bed. Dionysis’ wine never caused hangovers, but it would give you the greatest sleep you’ve ever had in your life. Zagreus had been almost fully submerged in slumber, but Megeara’s presence lured him back from the hot spring of sleep to the cool pool of naked reality. 

Megeara strode to Zagreus’ bed in three quick steps. She wrapped the back of his neck in her hand and kissed him on the mouth. Zagreus melted into her. He cupped the bases of her wings and pressed her body close. He’d been so groggy when she entered that he failed to take stock of her outfit, which was negligible. Thin, see- through fabric scarcely separated their anxious skins. Zagreus let his robe slip off his shoulder. He pushed his exposed chest into hers. He languished in feeling her soft, firm breasts against his pecs. Meg’s kisses grew deeper, open- mouthed, sloppy, wet, hot, hungry. She dropped her whip and buried both hands in Zagreus’ messy black hair, wrapping locks around her fingers and using her grip to control his head. 

“Meg,” Zagreus gasped. Her strong thighs wrapped around his waist and her hot crotch pressed against his aching abs. 

“I’m sorry I missed the Dance of Darkness,” Megeara apologized, chewing on his ear. “I thought I might make it up to you.” 

“I want this to be perfect,” Zagreus breathed. Megeara moved her kisses to his neck, his collarbone, his chest, sneaking a naughty nibble in here and again. 

Meg placed his hand on her chest. Zagreus desperately wanted to keep Megeara’s tit in his hand, but it fell almost as soon as she let go. Megeara’s mouth moved south, down the ridges of his abs, down his sharp pelvic muscles. She was headed straight for Dick Town.

“Meg….” Zagreus slurred. The strong drink dragged him like a million marshmallow hands. 

“Shut up, Zagreus,” she snapped playfully. His penis seemed much like a marshmallow itself. Regardless, Megeara placed it in her mouth and sucked gently. She expected it to swell and harden by the second. But Zagreus’ manhood remained a flophood. Megeara popped it out of her mouth. 

“Zagreus? Zagreus!” 

The Prince of Darkness did not move.

She slapped his face. Zag’s eyes remained shut. A small trickle of drool left his mouth. 

Meg stared. Her mouth fell open, but sadly, no penis filled it. Zagreus had passed out.


	14. Monster

Tisiphone didn’t want to talk about Kithearon, but she knew Eurydice would ask about the snake. She actually took Charon’s ferry service to Eurydice’s island this time. She wanted to prolong the journey as long as she could. 

When she arrived at Eurydice’s door, late in whatever time of day it was, she almost turned back. The baby snake behind Tisiphone’s ear proved perpetually foul- tempered. 

Tisiphone stood outside Eurydice’s chamber for a spell, listening. Eurydice sang a gorgeous and melancholy tune. Her talent befell her. Her mellifluous voice had attracted the attention of Orpheus, who hurt Eurydice irrevocably. Tisiphone feared hurting her, too. 

Entering Eurydice’s chamber took a rush of will. Most days, Tisiphone pushed through the stone wall separating Eurydice’s cozy nook from bubbling lava rivers quite easily. Today, though, she faltered. Kithy gave an agitated squeak when they passed through the solid stone. 

“Hiya, honey,” Eurydice greeted. She stood by her frothing pots and pants, controlling the chaos casually. Tisiphone smiled meekly. 

“Salutations, sweet Eurydice.” 

Eurydice placed her wooden spoon in a sauce- smeared pot and moved to kiss Tis. Tisiphone had to think twice before backing away, so deeply did she want Eurydice’s lips. But Tisiphone stuck to her principals. They built their relationship on honesty… and Eurydice would find a surprise hair snake most unpleasant. 

“I come to confess,” Tisiphone blurted, then immediately shook her head at how silly she sounded. Isn’t that what ashamed humanoids said to little robed men in closets? Even Eurydice laughed at Tisipone. 

“What is it, sugar plum?” she teased. 

Tisiphone took a deep breath. 

“I have something I wish to disclose to you regarding the Fury sisters’ latest foray to the surface. I took upon myself the safety of a man called Kithaeron, an innocent sheep- herder whose town my sisters and I were destroying. When he learned I could spare him but not his village, he called me a monster.”  
He’d done more than that, but Tisiphone felt foolish adding “and tried to kill me”. Mortals like Kithaeron posed no threat to demigods like Tisipone. 

Tisiphone fished Kithy from behind her ear. The baby snake’s white scales flashed in the lava light. Its smooth, quick tongue darted out and back in an instant. Eurydice inhaled sharply. 

“What is that?” she stammered. She backed cautiously away from Tisiphone, into the safety of her bubbling cookware.

Tisiphone hung her head. Kithy looked up with curiosity. 

“In my impulsiveness, I took Kithearon's life. With this.” 

She hoisted Kithy’s chin on her index fingertip. 

“I… felt inspired by your mortal demise.”

Eurydice furrowed her brow. She started shaking her head uncontrollably. She turned her back on Tisiphone, bent over her stove and busied herself with inconsequential clanging. 

Blood left Tisiphone’s head and shoulders. Her body shivered up and down, as if a cold cube slunk down her spine. Asphodel’s sweltering heat felt far away, on another planet. Her limbs went numb. She stretched her fingers to see if they still had life in them. Barely. Her feet had just enough awareness to walk out of Eurydice’s death forever. Eurydice’s body language said it all. She wanted nothing to do with Tisiphone, or her dirty hair snake. 

“I see this new development troubles you. I apologize, Eurydice. I did not wish to take advantage of your resilience.” 

Tisiphone turned to go. Her feet felt like they had hardened in the lava. Would she ever set foot here again? How would she learn to see the beauty in hideous things without near- daily visits to her confidant? Tisiphone squared her shoulders. She was a Fury. An Erinyes. A goddess. A messenger of justice. A monster… 

“Tisiphone, wait.” 

Eurydice caught Tisiphone by her bony elbow. Tisiphone already had the other one supplanted in the fortress wall. Merfically, Kithy was slithering opposite Eurydice. Eurydice snatched the creature’s head in her mouth and held it tight. Kithy froze like stone. Eurydice wrapped her arms around Tisiphone’s wayward shoulder and pulled her back inside. She grabbed Tisiphone’s face and kissed her square on the lips. Tisiphone cried a little as her own lips smiled in relief. 

“Just put a bag over this thing when you come to hang out, okay?” Eurydice said when she pulled away. She relinquished her grip on Kithy and the snakelet looked dazed, as if woken from a particularly disorienting sleep. 

Tisiphone sniffed. She tried drawing tears backward into her eyes, but they fell like drops of dew down a flower petal. Eurydice wiped one away with her small finger. 

“You’re not a monster,” she said. 

And, for the next hour and forty- five minutes, Tisiphone believed her.


	15. Vacation

“You guys are gonna love this, I just know it.”

Hypnos cornered everyone in the Lounge. Megeara, Tisiphone, Alecto, Zagreus, sulky Than, even Dusa had gathered to see what illicit substance he’d picked up at the Dance of Darkness. 

“Hypnos! Who’s watching the Pool of Styx?” Dusa chirped. She buzzed off to investigate. 

“It’ll be fine for a couple of hours!” Hypnos’ eyelids drooped, suggesting he felt a nap coming on. But he really wanted to share this exciting treat. 

He threw down a handful of small, round objects the color of mortal flesh. Zagreus picked one up. He turned it over in his fingers. It felt gummy. He sniffed it. It smelled not entirely unappealing, sort of sweet and hellish like Eurydice’s kitchen. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Zagreus asked. 

“You’re looking at a round-trip ticket to the most fun you kids have ever had!” Hypnos beamed. “One of these babies gets you twenty- four hours in the most dazzling place on mortal Earth. I went there last Doomsday with Dionysis and it is TO DIE FOR! Well, figuratively,” Hypnos corrected. “Although, ya DO have to kill yourself before the 24 hours are up. Otherwise, you’ll get all tied up in the Underworld, Hades will know you took the day off, I’ll have to report you….” Hypnos cringed and rolled his hands forward so the crew could fill in the blanks. No one wanted to suffer the wrath of Hades. 

“Why should we listen to you, shade?” Alecto hissed. Hypnos was technically the God of Sleep, but he performed his duties at less than Godlike standards. Alecto had a feeling he’d popped one of these gummies and “taken the day off” more than once. 

“Come on, Alecto, aren’t you tired of the same grind, day after day? Those mortals aren’t getting any more living. They’ll still be waiting for you to flay ‘em after a little breaky poo!”

“Why would we want to consort with mortals?” Megeara smirked. 

“C’mon, Meg,” Hypnos egged. “You forget what it’s like to be a god unless you give it up sometimes.” 

Tisiphone swiftly counted the gummies. “There’s 7.”

“Yup!” Hypnos beamed. “You, me, Meg, Than, Zag, ol Sour Patch Kid over there, and Dusa.”

Tisiphone crossed her arms. 

“I want Eurydice to come.”

Hypnos’ face fell. “Tis, you know she can’t leave the underworld.”

Tisiphone slouched and pouted on her pouf. 

“I’m up for it,” Zagreus said. “I could use a vacation.”

Thanatos shrugged in agreement. 

Megeara narrowed her eyes. “Where is this ‘enchanting’ destination?”

Hypnos grinned from ear to ear. 

“Las Vegas, 2005.”


	16. Caesar's Palass

The gummy portals had a fruity bite and an aftertaste of brimstone. 

When the surface hit their tongues, swift sleep overtook the party of Chthonic gods. When they woke up, they were all lying on top of each other in an enormous, ornate and not entirely comfortable bed. 

Tisiphone rose first. The air felt extreme... extremely…. cool. She walked to a beacon of light burning between two white curtains. Tisisphone pushed the curtains aside. What she saw was both the ugliest and most astounding sight ever. 

This was the future, all right: the Earth looked baked and pulverized by merciless ultraviolet radiation. A thin yellow haze hung in the space between the cracked yellow ground and the resplendent blue sky. She saw mountains in the far distance, but her immediate view held a sun- bleached urban sprawl. Towering buildings had flashing neon signs competed for attention under the harsh desert glare. Giant flat blacktops took up obscene amounts of space. Waves of heat shimmered above each profane structure. Las Vegas looked like Hell. 

Tiny, stout humans waddled in a shady alley immediately below Tisiphone’s window. They wore shopping bags and dark shields that obstructed their eyes. Tisiphone tapped as if they were fish in a bowl, but she was too high for them to hear her. The smallest of the tiny humans, though, chanced to look up. Tisiphone flashed her teeth at him and growled. The child screamed and ran down the alley. 

“This is the future,” Tisiphone confirmed to everyone. 

Hypnos yawned. He lay at the bottom of the body heap and looked positively blissed, as if laying in a heap with all his friends were the real vacation. 

Tisiphone peered at her peers. “Hypnos, what’s happened to Megeara and Alecto’s wings?”

Alecto groaned and twisted. “What happened to YOUR wings, bitch?” 

Tisiphone waved her hands behind her. Sure enough, her hands caught nothing but air. 

Tisiphone’s hands flew behind her ear. She fingered her hair, searching for Kithy the snake, but her hair felt dry and snakeless. Kithy was gone. A tiny wave of relief washed through Tisiphone. 

“I can’t beLIEVE you guys convinced me to do this!” Dusa said, her voice breaking with stress. Tisiphone followed the origin of Dusa’s voice and gasped. In the House of Hades, Dusa was a floating head with thick snakes for hair (and Tisiphone thought Kithy was bad). Here in Las Vegas, she could do a lot more than float. Dusa toppled off the bed. 

“What ARE these?” Dusa screeched. She awkwardly lifted her legs and appendages, examining each one in front of her face. 

“I told ya you’d have to blend in,” Hypnos said sleepily. 

“Dusa,” Zagreus offered, rolling towards her, “These are your hands.” He took one of Dusa’s new hands in his. “Use them like you used the snakes in your hair.”

“Is this…. permanent?” Dusa stammered. She used her new understanding of hands to touch her body. Her face looked the same: big eyes, tiny fangs, slits for nostrils- but dark, thick curls hung where her snakes used to be. She had a short body, with cute curves and dainty hands and feet. She was, however, still green. It seemed a soft, natural green. The mortals would hardly notice. 

Hypnos yawned. “Nope. You’ll go back to normal once you go back to the Underworld.” 

Alecto gagged. 

Thanatos rolled out of bed. “Where’s my scythe?” he balked, panicked. The Fury sisters groped for their whips and found none.

“All your weapons are back in the Underworld,” Hypnos explained, sliding elegantly off the bed and towards the closet like a weasel. “One of those time- travel rules. No weapons. Ah! Here we are.” 

Hypnos slid the flimsy door aside, revealing all manner of unusual- looking garments. Zagreus spotted feathers, silks, and some type of fabric that looked like fish scales. “Dusa, come pick out some clothes.”

It just then occurred to Dusa that she had arrived completely naked. She froze, stunned, then quickly yanked at the sheets on the bed, forcing Alecto, Megeara and Zagreus to tumble off. She blushed, making her green skin purple, and wrapped the sheet over her entire body including her head. She scurried to the closet and started rifling through. 

“What is this stuff?” she asked. The flimsy garments felt nothing like clothing back in the Underworld. “It all feels really flammable.” 

“Just some things Chaos, Dino, Aphrodite and I have collected over the years. We like to keep a stash-”

Alecto descended on Hypnos faster than you could say “chaos”. “Did you say… Chaos?” she seethed. 

Hypnos sank. 

“You’ve got us galavanting through space and time because of CHAOS?” 

Alecto fumed. She inhaled, expecting to spread her vicious wings. She channeled energy to her fingertips, expecting them to shoot flames. She opened her mouth, expecting it to spew bile. None of these things happened. Instead, Alecto faced Hypnos with all the fury of a powerless, insane- looking girl. Megeara laughed at her. 

“Why have you become so outraged?” Tisiphone asked. “Chaos toils in the Underworld, just like you or I. ”

“No way,” Alecto said. “I’m not dealing with that primordial sadist!”

“I want to wear this one!” Dusa announced. She withdrew something that looked like a fish skin, but with a human shape, two small holes at the bottom, and a plunging neckline. Its deep green- blue scales caught the fluorescent lamplight. 

“Ah yes! The sequin romper. An excellent choice,” Hypnos congratulated. “That one belongs to Aphrodite.” 

“NNNNNGRRRRAHHH!!!!!” Alecto screamed. She stormed around the room, knocking things over. She searched for something sharp.

“Alecto, try taking three deep breaths like we talked about-” Thanatos suggested. 

“AHA!” Alecto seemed to have found something in the bathroom. It was a small, flat metal stick with one pointy end, suitable for cleaning nails. 

“What’s the big deal?” stammered Hypnos. 

“Look, Hypnos,” Alecto hissed, brandishing her nail file and waving it in his face. “Unlike mortal- fucking fruit- for- brains and these other sycophants, I have a job to do. I ENJOY my job. And there’s no fun in walking alongside mortals without ANY of my powers in the stupid hand- me downs of that shit bag Chaos and that slut Aphrodite.”

“Be careful,” Hypnos said in a soft singsong. “They’ll hear you….” 

“I’m outta here,” Alecto announced. She whipped the metal stick around in her hand and jabbed it into her wrist. 

“ARRAAAGH!!!” 

Alecto wailed in pain. She gritted her still- sharp teeth and withdrew the blade. Hypnos watched in horror.

“Is your plan to bleed to death?” he asked meekly. “If so, could ya do it in the bathro-” 

“AAAAAAARFF!!!!” Alecto raised the stick high above her head and brought the nail file crashing into her veins again. She wretched and gasped, open mouth, horrified at the mortal blood gleefully leaving her veins. She felt weak, faint, helpless, hopeless, gross. She wanted to be back in the Underworld where she could feel invincible again. She withdrew the nail file, more slowly than before….

“This is ridiculous,” Tisiphone announced. She took three quick steps and snapped Alecto’s neck. Alectro vanished in a “poof” of red bats. 

Hypnos let out what sounded like a long held- sigh. 

“Anybody else want to opt out now!” 

“Wow! Guys, look at me!”

Dusa emerged from the bathroom wearing Aphrodite’s romper. 

Zagreus chuckled. Megeara smiled. Tisiphone walked towards the closet. Thanatos pretended not to be as amused as he really was. 

Zagreus answered Hypnos. “Nope, I’m good. Show us this “Las Vegas,” Hypnos.” 

Hypnos beamed. 

“Wait until you guys see the pool!”


	17. That Primordial Sadist

Alecto plummeted back into the underworld. 

The feeling was not entirely unpleasant. She regained God form as soon as her mortal heart stopped beating. Shades flew by in a blur. 

Alecto despised masquerading as a mortal. Even temporary confinement in a mortal space felt like suffocation. She thought they were going to enter Las Vegas as Gods and Furies, children of night and darkness, Titan offspring, masters of Death. Not weebly humans. She never wanted to think of herself as anywhere near a human’s inferiority. Alecto thrived on power. That’s what drew her to Chaos in the first place. 

Alecto found Chaos accidentally. She later learned no one really stumbles upon chaos; one can only find them when they want to be found. She ventured through a Chaos Gate one day during a routine inspection of Tartarus. Looking back, Chaos must have spawned the gate knowing Alecto would drop in. Chaos seemed so mysterious. They dwelled even deeper than the Underworld, in vast caves that felt like the beginning of time itself. They intelligently mocked the trials of Olympic and Chthonic gods alike, for they were superior to both. They could take any form they desired, but usually opted for a serene and powerful visage that demonstrated how absolutely Chaos reigned over mortals. Even Alecto stilled her forked tongue in the presence of Chaos. 

Their first meeting didn’t last long. Alecto fell, most clumsily, through the gate. The dawn of time felt upon her. Nothing about Chaos’ realm felt familiar, and yet she felt connected with it on a primeval level. 

Two white eyes deeper than space gazed from shapeless dark. They narrowed and turned up, suggesting a smile. Then, before she knew it, she was back on her ass in Tartarus again. The familiar Underworld now felt cheap and fleeting. She needed to get back to that timeless world with the burning eyes. 

Chaos spawned more and more gates on Alecto’s patrols. She brought Chaos gifts of nectar, ambrosia, and choice sacrifices gleaned from her toils in underworld and upperworld alike: mortal hearts, hydra fangs, minotaur hides; objects that showed Alecto’s prowess. These seemed to delight Chaos.  
In retrospect, Alecto misread the signs. Chaos wasn’t attracted to her, simply amused by her, as a parent is amused by a child learning to babble. Chaos received her presence, but did not desire it. Chaos was the oldest thing in the Universe and already received every type of offering imaginable before Alecto came along. Still, Alecto thirsted for Chaos’ power. So one day, she made the ultimate offering. 

She stood before Chaos, lay down her whip, folded her wings and bowed her head. 

“Teach me,” she beseeched. “Teach me your ways.” 

Chaos tumbled down from their post. Viscous grayness reshaped from Chaos’ familiar statuesque form. Chaos changed. The form they chose was magnificently omnisexual. They wore a beautiful face with a strong jaw, deep eyes, and flawless, shining skin. Chaos had no hair on their head, nor did they need any: never had a head demanded hair less. Chaos’ upper half had broad, strong shoulders, rippling arms, abs so sharp you could nick yourself on them. And breasts. Huge, massive, commanding breasts that somehow evoked battle and homecoming at the same time. Though gigantic, these breasts looked like an asset in battle, not an impediment. They symbolized power, like large, pummel- proof shields that would protect the chest from anything. Chaos wore their breasts bare. Alecto immediately wanted to engulf herself in Chaos’ chest. 

This form of Chaos also had the greatest penis Alecto had ever seen. Usually, Alecto could resist any iteration of shlong. This one, though, felt like it was already fucking her mind. Thick, protruding veins. Girth that looked like it would bring Alecto to orgasm with just one thrust. A head like shaped marble, perfectly angled for penetration. It was as if Chaos had reached straight into Alecto’s fantasies and composed a human form just for her. 

“Is this what you desire?”

Had Chaos' body looked any different, Alecto might have muttered, “No,” because she truly preferred the ephemeral power of Chaos in their less anthropomorphic form. This form of Chaos, though, seduced Alecto’s basest desires. It spoke to the humanity that all gods have, try as they might to suppress it. Instead of refusing Chaos’ body and inquiring after their natural state, she breathed “Yes”. 

Chaos let out a booming laugh. Chaos shifted again. The magnificent penis and commanding basoomas vanished. This time, Chaos assumed the form of Hypnos, the weakest creature Alecto could imagine. 

Alecto gasped. She knew she wasn’t unarmed and drooling in front of the REAL Hypos, but the embarrassment outraged her. Alecto whipped her wings into action and reunited with her whip. She slashed it out, assuming a dominant stance. She already felt a hundred times more powerful than leering, feeble Hypnos. 

Chaos laughed again, shifted again. This time, Chaos took no form. Their multifaceted, transfixing voice spoke to Alecto.

“Little child,” Chaos reigned, “You amuse me,” 

The condescension of Chaos' tone whipped Alecto into a fury. She loathed the way Chaos called her “little child”, although, in essence, she was. She lashed out with her whip, slicing at the swirling gray air that was, somehow, Chaos. That belittling laugh continued to boom, from everywhere and nowhere. Alecto was wasting her energy, but pride kept her fighting. No one fucked with Alecto. 

The two fought like this for days. Alecto could never so much as materialize Chaos. Eventually, Chaos grew bored and spat her out of the Chaos Gate. 

She never wanted to see that prick as long as she lived. 

WHOOSH! Alecto tumbled down the floe. The River of Styx deposited her at the House of Hades. No Hypnos. Of course, Alecto thought. That little twit was busy shirking his duties.

Instead, she was greeted with a massive, hairy foot. Alecto gazed up. The red eyes of Hades looked back at her.


	18. Venus in Pools

“Wheeee!!!” 

Dusa crossed her arms over her chest and splashed feet- first into the Venus pool at Ceasar’s Palass. With a new torso and four fabulous limbs, Dusa felt everything everywhere. And right now she wanted rushing water to carry her down a slick tube and plunge her into a bottomless lagoon. Every time she felt the water slide leave her body, the space beneath her belly button did a somersault, and Dusa felt the true meaning of happiness. 

“Exactly how many times has she been down that thing?” Megeara asked. Meg looked smashing in her deep purple bikini and dark sunglasses. She peered over the impermeable lenses as the frolicking gorgon shook her thick curls, adjusted her high- waisted bikini bottom and darted back for the slide. 

“A dozen times at least. Waiter, fetch me another!” 

Thanatos snapped his fingers. A panting tan cabana boy replaced his empty red- stained pineapple shell with a brimming one.

“It’s called a ‘scorpion’,” Hypnos had explained after round one. 

“A beverage made from one of the deadliest bugs on the planet? Cheers!” 

Thanatos thought he was drinking actual scorpions. The neon red beverage contained nothing more than rum and grenadine. But Hypnos let Than have his fun. Thanatos was finally starting to sound like Dionysus, that sex maniac. 

Thanatos was drunk as a skunk. He’d covered his head in one of Aphrodite’s most ostentatious hats to protect his moon- white skin from the fierce Nevada rays and started drinking as soon as high heels hit the marble. 

Caesar’s Palass looked exactly like the House of Hades. The majestic marble floors were perpetually covered in traces of muck. Gigantic gold and crystal urns overflowed with rich botanicals. The smell of smoke and brimstone was everywhere. Everyone walked around in a haze, like the River Styx just spat them out. There was even a water fountain displaying mortal- sized statues of the Olympic gods. The crew had a good laugh about that. The clumsy carvings mocked their divine counterparts. They were sculpted from thirsty white rocks that made the gods look pallid and aging. Plus, they had wildly incorrect names: Venus instead of Aphrodite, Mars instead of Ares, Baccus in lieu of Dionysis, and so on.

“They couldn’t even get the names right!” squawked Than. He’d already had a few Scorpions by then. 

As Dusa enjoyed the thrills of water slides, Than enjoyed the thrills of liquor and Meg enjoyed the thrill of being the hottest bitch at the pool, Zagreus and Tisiphone loitered at the poolside bar. Zag wore what Hypnos referred to as a “Hawaiian shirt”. The splashy print covered Zag’s shoulders and fell open at his chest, creating a breezy parachute that cooled the small sweat trickles that ran down his back. Tisiphone felt less seductive than Meg in her shimmering beige bikini and long crocheted cover- up, but looked no less babealiciois. She selected the bohemian garments because they evoked Eurydice. Tisiphone watched the mortals that mulled about the pool area. Some caught her eye, but none possessed the ethereal magic that Eurydice had. 

“It’s because she’s part nymph, you know,” Zagreus interjected. He took a tiny slurp of his drink. A “piña colada”, they had called it. It came with so many garnishes that Zag had to use a small pole to retrieve the actual beverage. He found the flavor sweet and cloying. It coated his mouth in thick spit. He preferred the nectar of Hades. 

“Hmmm?” Tis replied absently. She watched a couple wrestle their recalcitrant child into a pair of water wings. 

“Eurydice,” Zag clarified. “That’s why you can’t find her likeness in mortals.” 

“I can find her likeness in some of these mortals,” Tis defended. She spied a towering, godlike gentleman shaking his towel out by the cabanas and grinned. 

“You know what I mean,” said Zagreus. He jabbed an engorged red fruit with his suck- pole. “There’s something about her you can’t quite put your finger on. Something that makes her especially attractive to you.” 

“Is that how you feel about Meg?” The words might have sounded accusatory coming from a different Fury, but when Tis said them, though, they sounded gently inquisitive. 

“It’snotwhatyouthink,” Zagreus muttered into his drinkable menagerie. “Megaera and I are friends. I trust her.” 

“Is that why she attempted fellatio on your incapacitated penis after the Dance of Darkness?” Tisiphone said slyly. Her eyes met Zagreus’ and flashed. 

Zagreus blushed.

“Megeara can trust me with anything, too,” Tisiphone said. She paused her people- watching to tend to her own drink, something also too sweet that came in a green coconut. 

“I do feel embarrassed by that,” Zagreus groused. He tried to push the image of Meg kneeling between his thighs out of his mind. The memory concluded with eyelids falling and numbness everywhere. 

“I suspect my sister Megeara seeks more than your trust.” Tisiphone continued. 

“Did she tell you that? She seems to tell you everything else,” Zagreus asked. 

Tisiphone smiled to herself. 

“My relationship with my sisters has sweetened as of late.” Tisiphone said. “I hypothesize that it is your relationship with Megeara, and my relationship with Eurydice that have improved our interactions with others. Alecto has no such love in her life. She struggles.” 

Tisiphone plugged her nose and tried one more sip of the coconut. She shuddered. Zagreus looked over and saw Than staggering towards the water slide as Megeara tried to pry the Scorpion from his hand. Zagreus caught himself staring at Meg’s strong, thunderous thighs. Only a tiny triangle covered her backside. Zagreus swallowed hard. 

Tisiphone snapped him out of Meg’s bikini. 

“Megeara cares for you,” Tisiphone concluded. “She doesn’t have to tell me that. Whoops!”   
Tisiphone flung her arm into her coconut and spilled the drink all over the ground. Zagreus swore he heard a sizzle as it hit the concrete. 

“Oh, let me help you with that. Ah, how clumsy of me!”   
Zagreus threw his own drink to the ground where its contents gushed and wilted. He fished out the little purple flower and shook it off. “So sorry about that,” Zagreus apologized to the bartender. He started attempting cleanup with his pool towel when he heard a CHHHH! And sploosh! coming from the pool area. Thanatos had fallen in. Megeara jumped in after Thanatos and tried dragging him out of the pool, but her mortal strength could do nothing but push the giant man through the water.

“Better go see what that’s about,” Zagreus said.


	19. One Too Many Scorpions

“Oh my gosh! Thanatos!!” 

Dusa shot out of the pool so fast her bathing suit almost came off. It took the combined effort of Meg, Tis and Zagreus to drag Than out of the pool. His body felt like it was made of solid iron. When they finally got him out, his eyes were closed and his mouth was open. 

“Oh dear,” Hypnos said. He pushed his sunglasses up his long nose and craned his neck to get a better look at Than. He pressed an ear to Than’s chest. He couldn’t hear anything, but thought this as good a time as any to get his French on. He pinched Thanatos’ nose, opened his mouth wider, and covered Thanatos’ mouth with his own… 

POOF. Thanatos’ body vanished in a puff of black smoke. 

Dammit, Hypnos thought. 

“Oh my gosh!!!” Dusa squealed, her voice breaking more than usual. “What happened to Thanatos?” 

“My guess?” Hypnos whipped a towel around his waist to hide his burgeoning boner. “He drowned.” 

Tisiphone shuddered. 

“He had one too many scorpions,” Zagreus said glumly. 

“You mean… Thanatos couldn’t swim?” Dusa asked. 

“I guess not,” Hypnos sighed. “I’m sure all the alcohol didn’t help, he was drunk as a skunk before he hit the water.” 

“What is this “skunk”?” Tisiphone asked. “Does it regularly imbibe to excess?” 

Hypnos shook. “Never mind,” he said. 

“Dusa, you didn’t know how to swim either until today,” Megeara countered. 

Dusa laughed. 

“I didn’t know how to walk, either!” She laughed. She gave a little twirl and her hands danced above her head. “I am loving this body!”

“He’ll meet us in the Underworld, right Hypnos?” Zagreus asked. 

“Yea…” 

Hypnos sighed, imagining a world where Thanatos sprang to life at Hypnos’ kiss instead of dying horribly….


	20. ONE NIGHT IN VEGASS

Hypnos and Thanatos were only technically brothers. Genetics in the underworld were more ceremonial than biological. The process of procreating took much more than a mere push in the bush. Additionally, all gods came from the same place and were all related to each other in one way or another. Finally, not many gods existed. The only way the Chthonic and Olympic gods could truly avoid incest would be to fuck mortals. For most gods, this equated to drinking tap water when you could drink from the Fountain of Youth. It would have to be pretty exceptional tap water. 

So would everyone just shut up about Hypnos wanting to fuck his brother, already? 

Plus, it wasn’t like Hypnos was alone. Everyone in the Underworld wanted to fuck Than. He was the most powerful god in the Underworld, barring Hades. He was Death Incarnate. He could slay anything… including Hypnos’ heart!!! He brooded about the House of Hades, torturing Than with his tortured stares… 

Hypnos had the weaker version of Than’s power. Hypnos’ ability to put anything to sleep for a time mimicked Than’s ability to put anything to sleep forever. He was, in many ways, the weaker version of Than.

Hypnos tried hiding his disappointment when Than poofed back to Hades. This entire field trip served as a ruse for Hypnos to finally share his feelings with Than. Phase 1 worked perfectly: get Than to Las Vegas. Even Phase 2 seemed to be going well: get Than drunk. Hypnos never would have guessed the tough and stoic god would turn loopy at a handful overpriced cocktails. I guess Than had way less experience with drinking than Hypnos.

In a perfect world, their evening would go like this: 

After a languid poolside afternoon making of googly eyes at each other, Hypnos would whisk Thanatos back to the hotel room for a good towelling- off. The two would hop in a massive shower together, the hard desert water blasting the chlorine off their hard desert bodies. They would grasp the little white hotel soaps in their hands, sloppily soaping each other down. Oops! Hypnos would drop the soap, forcing his hand to make contact with Thanatos’ flushed flesh. From that moment on, it was only a matter of time before bodies collided. Hypnos wrapped his legs around Than. They kissed with open mouths, shower water splashing like rain. Thanatos flexed under Hypnos. The mere movement of Than’s muscles made Hypnos sore. Thanatos pulled away from their shower- kiss enough to show a satisfied smirk. He carried Hypnos out of the shower and placed him gently on a bed of fluffy white towels. Hypnos retrieved the bottle of magical lube he and Dionysis kept specifically for these occasions, and they made love face- to- face, reflected at all angles by the steamy mirrors in the bathroom. 

After a dreamy catnap in each other’s arms, Hypnos took Thanatos by the hand and introduced him to the Shops at Ceasar’s Palass. They stopped in all the boutiques- Roberto Cavalli, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, John Varvatos, Versace. Thanatos took a special liking to Cavalli; he selected a black velvet suit with gold Egyptian accents for the evening’s attire, and forwent the undershirt, although he did tie a silk ascot around his gorgeous neck. Hypnos went with his usual Dolce & Gabbana trashy boy look: a barely- there tank top that flaunted his nipples and artfully ripped cargo pants that exposed Hypnos’ hips. The two strutted down the sunset Strip arm in arm, making private jokes and making themselves the envy of couples everywhere. They climbed into a long black car and made out in the backseat as the car drove by every flashing light and every wet wet water show. Than’s hot hands found Hypnos’ smooth skin everywhere, thanks to that scandalous tank top. Hypnos tugged at Than’s earlobe with his teeth. Than covered Hypnos’ entire ass with both hands. At Nobu, they fed each other chirashi and tempura and got just drunk enough on warm, salty sake to party all night at Hypnos’ favorite club. They lost the designer clothes all and made love on the dance floor….

“Hypnos! Hypnos, snap out of it!” 

Hypnos’ eyelids fluttered open. He’d fallen asleep over the space where Than’s body used to be. He wiped impossible dreams from sleepy eyes, and forced a smile. 

“Thanks, Zag! I must have dozed off,” Hypnos giggled. 

Zagreous helped Hypnos to his feet. Hypnos’ knees felt weak. He leaned on Zagreus for support, pretending for a moment that Zag were Than. 

“Now no more sleeping on the job,” Zagreus said. “You’ve got to show us what this Las Vegas is all about.”


	21. BUFFET

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, those truffle fries at Hell's Kitchen are da bomb.

Las Vegass was full of sensory experiences. There was something for everyone in the quirky quintet. 

Tisiphone gorged herself on truffle fries at Hell’s Kitchen and melt-in- your- mouth sashimi at Nobu. 

Megeara couldn’t get enough of those luxardo cherries at the bottom of small glasses of liquor. She could care less for the cheap swill that carried the cherries, but she luxuriated in their slithery texture, their bite, the explosion of tart juice that spread over the tongue. She even liked the way their meaty texture stuck in her teeth afterward. 

Dusa was all about touch. She frolicked in the shops wearing a halter top and a big hat, rubbing her hands, back and shoulders against anything that looked thrilling: feather necklines, fur coats, brocade trousers, smooth wooden end tables, metal snake sculptures, linen bedspreads, mohair couches, velour poufs, chilly ice machines, warm salespeople. She accosted the merchandise with such innocence and excellence that no one bothered removing her; they merely watched, giggled, and let her molest to her hearts’ content. 

Hypnos’ thing was aroma. He lingered by the cologne counter at Sephora, coyly sampling sprays while odorous men came and went, testing said scents on themselves. Hypnos loved the way top notes and musky bases mixed with the scent of men. When applied correctly, the right cologne could sing a symphony of smells unparalleled by any in the Underworld. Hypnos tried to quell visions of Than and lose himself in strangers’ strong forearms and chiseled jaws. 

Zagreus laughed and crunched truffle fries with Tis, humored Hypnos at the cologne counter, chaperoned Dusa on her tour de texture. He helped Meg find crafty ways to dispose of Old Fashioneds- no one wanted to overdose like Than had. 

But Zagreus only had one sensory experience in mind: Meg herself. Her mortal presence was somehow even more irresistible than her godlike one, or had the sexual tension merely built to exigence? Regardless, Zagreus felt himself lingering behind to catch the scent of her hair or the sight of her hips. He let her laughing eyes rest in his a moment longer. He tried brushed her fingers when reaching for a truffle fry. 

Megeara had to sip some of the drinks her cherries came in. She’d accumulated quite a buzz by the end of their tour. As the crew promenaded past the Colosseum, a poster of a shimmering singer caught Meg’s eye. She threw herself at it. 

“Zag, take me!” 

Zag smiled.

“Celine Dion, here we come.”


	22. WHERE DOES MY HEART BEAT NOW?

The crowd leapt to its feet. Thunderous applause shook the theater. The most ethereal human Megeara had ever seen smiled and bowed graciously. You could see her teeth all the way in the back row. 

Megeara felt sad much of the time, but she couldn’t remember the last time she gave herself permission to cry. Tonight, tears flowed down her face like rivers. She’d felt everything in the 95 minutes of Celine Dion’s show. Fear. Passion. Desperation. Joy. Solace. Determination. Melancholy. The deep, deep ache of true love. Megeara had no idea what was going on with that rusty ship behind Celine’s waterfall, but she imagined it something tragic and romantic. A love that transcended time. Like Celine’s heart! Which would go on!

Zagreus tried to be discreet when he glanced at Meg. He saw many emotions cross her face that night, each more beautiful than the last. It was like when they watched the Soul Map, if the souls crashed through the glass and unleashed their thoughts, feelings and memories in living color. Zagreus was transfixed by Meg’s emotions. 

Megeara wiped a tear with the back of her wrist. Celine floated away, her sparkling golden cape leaving last. She caught Zagreus staring, but instead of hiding her tears, she stared back. She wondered if they could ever have My Heart Will Go On love. She knew one thing that wouldn’t go on: this pass for her and Zagreus to do whatever they wanted, free of the watchful eyes back in the House of Hades. 

Before Zagreus’ mouth could suggest the next activity, Meg’s lips were on it. She grabbed his face, relishing the stubble that accumulated since they turned mortal. 

They made out through the casino, down the hall and all the way up the elevator. Megeara threw Zagreus against one wall; he slammed her against another. Meg’s dress slipped off her shoulder. Meg tore tiny holes in Zagreus’ black lace shirt where she dragged her fingernails. Lips and nails lashed indiscriminately. Megeara caught Zagreus’ lower lip in her teeth and gently pulled. Zagreous covered one of her ears with his mouth, spiny earring and all. Megeara moaned loudly. She threw her leg up on the opposite side of the elevator and pushed to release some of the tension building in her body. They jammed the “close door” button whenever they heard the doors open. They did such a good job keeping everyone out of the elevator that they completely missed their floor and rode all the way to the top. 

Bing! 

The doors opened. 

Megeara grabbed Zagreus’ hand. She suspected they had made it to the rooftop, and she suspected the rooftop would be perfect. 

They continued making out with rampant disregard for their surroundings. No one was around the top floor at 11 PM on a Tuesday. They slammed their rapidly intertwining bodies into walls until they fell through a pair of doors, onto the most beautiful and least filthy carpet in all of Las Vegas. 

Crystal credenzas lit the cavernous room. A glass ceiling revealed an expanse of starlight above them. The two gods, perpetually trapped in the skyless underworld, paused to take in the limitlessness of life on Earth. A dark, hard, slick floor lay in the middle of the ballroom. It was for dancing, no doubt. Zagreus pulled Megeara to the middle of the dance floor and spun her around. 

Megeara giggled. Their furious kissing turned to gentle softness, until their lips barely touched each other. The type of kisses that brushed your nerve endings and sent tingles down your body. Zagreous wrapped Megeara in his long, strong arms. Megeara let herself fall into his strong embrace, buried her face in his now- exposed chest. She felt little wet emotions creep out the sides of her eyes and escape into his skin. Zagreus moved his strong chin over the top of Meg’s head. He closed his eyes and held her. The two created one spirit, moving seamlessly through skin. It was magic unlike any the gods had yet experienced. 

“Megeara?” Zagreus asked.

“Hmm?” Megeara hummed. 

“It’s perfect now.”


End file.
